Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-02-11
COMMENT ON THE ACCIDENT
New York Times.1


preventable. Everybody in this CITY
knows that the cars of the elevated rail.
roads are heated by steam conveyed
through pipes from the locomotive. No
doubt there would be Inconvenience in
applying this system to through trains on
a railroad. The manufacturers who in
troduced it insist that they have so modi-
ned 1t AS to make ii applicable to the
needs of all railroads Whetherth they have
done so or not, the difficulties of doing so
are manitestly not insuperable. They can
be overcome when the managers of rail
roads make up their minds that they must
be overcome. If they are not convinced
by this disaster, following 50 closely on
another in which the car stove PLAYED the
same deadly part it is high time that the
law making, power should take the ques-
ton out of their hands,
New York Trbune1
The discussion which the last calamity
OF this kind gave rise to, and which is even
now proceeding in the periodicals devoted
to railroad mechanics, brought out the
TACT consplcuously that there is really no
want of practical appliances for making
cars safe 1t must, therefore, be con
Guided that the general failure to adopt
some of the many feasible inventions al
ready patented is attributable to false
economy on the part of the companies,
ana not to the inherent difficulty of the
problem. A few corporations have actual
ly adopted improved methods of heating
thelr cars, and with the best results. The
great railroads, however, have put off ac-
tlon on one preteXt and another until to-
DAY the public are entitled to say that rea-
sonaDle patience is exhausted and that
the law must make mandatory those pro
tectlve measures which the companies are
not willing to adopt without compulsion
New York World
1t may be that the plunge from the
bridge could not have been prevented by
human precauton. But the burning
could have been. That part of the disas
ter was due to the persistent refusal of
railroad managers TO heed the warnings
which have been repeated with frightful
emphasis for years. Accident after acct
dent has happened with It's burned vic
tins and still the stove is adhered to-
Inc constant defence has been We
can lind no substitute for the stove"
This is simply an unqualified lie. There
mas been one successful substitute at least
used for several years on the elevated
roads in this city. And there may be 9th
ers. Subterfuges have been resorted to
pretending to explain why heating from
the engine is not practicable for long
trains, but the exposure of their falsity
has been complete. All that is needed is
the Will OF the railroad men to make the
change.
ALBANY Journal
After every such terrible disaster the
public demands safer methods of lighting
and heating cars than those at present
employed. discussion of the matter in
the newspapers follows the railroad man
ayers dlscreetly preserve silence, and SO it
ends until the next disaster again i'm
presses the urgency of the case. The time
has come for action. The legislature of
this State should, without a moments de
/ direptinp ba
missioners within a specified time, say
six months or year, 10 put in service up
on the railroads of the State improved
heating apparatus. The use of oil in
lighting cars should be forbidden. The
law should be strict and its provisions
well defined and clear so that there could
be no escape from it.
Springfield Republican,
The iron bridges now in vogue are all
furnished with guard rail-that is
high rail on the outside of the track, on
each side, which prevents cars from leav-
ing the track, even if derailed while on
the bridge. Had there been such rail
on the bridge over White river, the fear
ful plunge into the ravine would have
been prevented, at any rate.
The methods Of heating and lighting
cars must be changed at once and all
over the country. Wood or coal stoves,
whether open to the car or boxed in iron
u,
method of steam heating adopted Sever
al inventions of this sort are in practical
use on a few trains of a number of rail
roads. 1t is practicable, and it must be
pIacticed. The evil of lighting cars with
kerosene lamps is even less eXcusable, for
the electric light has been so nearly per
fected that it can be introduced without
serious difficulty. 1t will cost more, but
the railroads can we'll afford it from Pc
cuniary point of view, to say nothing
about the humanity.
Boston Postl
1t is the old story. No railroad train
now meets with collision or wreck during
the cold season without this terror being
added. Each car carries the means OF de
struction, and no repetition of the loss of
life by confiagratlOn seems enough to spur
invention TO the device of some satistac-
tory means of warming cars without in
volving this danger, or to inspire railroad
corporations with the purpose OF chang,
ing their methods The Legislature OF
this State is now in session Ii could not
perform better work than the enactment
of a law compelling the railroads to remove
at once every stove from the cars of pas
senger trains.
Montreal witness
There is one system, and one alone, by
which safety from fire can be secured, and
that is by removing all fire from the cars
Although railway managers say this Is
impossible, such is not the case. The New
York elevated railway trains are all heat
ed with steam from the engine, and the
system is not only safe and practical, hut
il is found to he economical. A new train
of close coupled carriages, warmed by hot
water pipes from the engine ana lighted
by gas throughout, has lately been placed
upon the Glasgow and Cathcart District
railway, and it is to be at once followed by
many others on the Caledoniau railway
system. There is, of course danger Goa
nected with either of these systems but
there is no danger of fire OF course, the
doubly dangerous coal oil, which anoints
everything for the blaze which il lights
should be replaced by incandescent lights
The only thing which prevents the general
adoption of such improvements is that
they cost money.
Montreal STAR